Madison Landmarks Commission – August 23, 2010

Here is the agenda for the August 23  meeting of the Landmarks Commission.

Here is the Madison Trust’s comments on this agenda.

The Commission will review two residential projects in University Heights, continue their internal review of the Landmarks Ordinance, and review the most recent buildings proposed for demolition.

Ordinance review

During their last several meetings the Commission has been reviewing the Landmarks Ordinance  and discussing potential revisions including the appeal language, the variance language, the the definition of several terms used in the ordinance, including ‘visually-related area.’  These recommendations will be submitted to the Common Council.  Among them will be the recommendation that the  provision requiring a 2/3 majority for overturning a Commission ruling be retained. Incidentally, this sentiment was the highest scoring recommendation at the July 31 Neighborhood Summit organized by Alder Rummel and attended by 7 other Alders.

Proposed for demolition

Two of the properties on the list of proposed demolitions have been initially assessed as eligible by a Wisconsin DOT Historic Preservation consultant as being eligible for the National Register of Historic Places: The Merrill Springs Inn and the Erdman office building (above) where Marshall Erdman worked on plans for Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unitarian Meeting House and his line of Prefabricated houses.  The Madison Trust does not have plans to research the eligibility of those places for local Landmark status, but recommended that they be photo-documented and essential records of the buildings be copied a deposited in appropriate repositories.

Category: Madison Landmarks Commission